On June 29, 2023, J. Jarpa Dawuni, holder of the IRD/Iméra Chair in Sustainable Development (2022-23), will present the complexities of methodological and theoretical approaches in conducting research using an Afro-centric approach to explain the situation of African women in the field of law.
Minding the Gap: Researching African Women in Law
Le 29 juin 2023, de 13h à 14h30, au Laboratoire Population, Environnement et Développement (LPED), Campus Saint-Charles (3 place Victor Hugo, 13003)
Possible participation in person or online.
Mandatory registration for access to Campus St Charles: https://pad.colibris-outilslibres.org/p/seminaire_Jarpa
Or remote participation via Zoom link.
How have women negotiated colonial and postcolonial power hierarchies to enter the legal professions and ascend to top leadership positions? Currently, the continent of Africa leads the world in the number of women who appointed as chief justices and presidents of constitutional courts. Where did these women emerge from, and what are their pathways to law and leadership? How do we study the lives of these women and other women in the legal professions across the vast and heterogenous continent of Africa? What are the multiple and intersecting power hierarchies they must negotiate to enter and stay in the profession? What are some challenges that lead to attrition or stagnation? What strategies are being developed and used to survive the professional labyrinths they encounter?
This talk examines the field of study on women in law with the goal of building a theoretical framework that fits the context-specificities of the lived experiences of women in African countries. It builds on my theorization of matri-legal feminism to discuss the methodological and theoretical complexities in conducting research using an Afro-centric approach to explain the situation of African women in law.
J. Jarpa Dawuni is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, Washington D.C.; a qualified Barrister-at-Law before the Superior Courts of Ghana; and a resident research fellow at Iméra, the Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University, holding the IRD/Iméra Chair in Sustainable Development (2022-23).
Her research project at Iméra, titled “Women in Law and Leadership Across Africa,” will result in the production of the first monograph examining women in legal professions across Africa, with a focus on the legal bar, judiciary, and legal academia in Africa, emphasizing women’s pathways to leadership in law.
To learn more about J. Jarpa Dawuni’s research project at Iméra, please refer to her resident page.
Possible participation in person or online.
Mandatory registration for access to Campus St Charles: https://pad.colibris-outilslibres.org/p/seminaire_Jarpa
Or remote participation via Zoom link.
